The Biggest Game Changer In Kingdom Hearts 3D Is The Y Button

Not the Y button itself, but what it does in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. Remember the concept trailer, which had a totally different menu interface and Riku bouncing off walls? You can vault off walls in Kingdom Hearts 3D by pressing the Y button. This sends you barreling towards enemies the air as if you’re M. Bison doing a Psycho Crusher while holding a keyblade.

That’s one of the flashy Free Flow Actions players can do. It seems like the Kingdom Hearts team wanted to make the backgrounds more interactive because Sora can also swing from lamppost and hit enemies with a spin attack by pressing Y then A. I suppose this could be a reversal move or it can get Sora out of a jam if he’s surrounded. Alternatively, Sora can do a super high jump by pressing B. You can use this to escape, but flying by holding B works just as well.

The Dual Link moves are another new feature. As mentioned before, players can set up partner attacks like bouncing on enemies with a pogo stick magical pink puppy. These team attacks have recovery time while Free Flow Actions can be done at any time. It’s possible to set up a chain a Free Flow Action with a combo and since Sora’s lamppost swing sends him flying far you can use this move to close distance too.

In the two hands-on demos at Tokyo Game Show, Traverse Town had more to interact with. Riku’s stage had points at the end to interact with where players could attack the boss by bouncing off floating orbs.